Areas of Ministry

Adult Discipleship

Adult Discipleship assists congregations and called workers in helping individuals grow in their relationship with Jesus and become better equipped to use their unique gifts to bring Christ’s love and the gospel message into all their daily relationships and activities.

This ministry helps WELS college students grow in their faith so that they can reach out to other college students with the gospel. Campus Ministry also supports full- and part-time campus pastors, and provides helps for WELS congregations as they reach out to college students in their area.

Christian Aid and Relief provides disaster relief and humanitarian aid to people around the world who have been devastated by natural disasters and other tragedies. The committee also helps individuals with catastrophic medical and personal needs.

WELS Ministry of Christian Giving encourages members to excel in the grace of giving and assists them in making planned gifts to support the gospel ministry of their congregations, synod, and WELS agencies.

This group provides training, resources, and a unified team approach to identifying the needs of congregations and their leaders. The group works closely with Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and Martin Luther College to deliver continuing education to called workers. The group comprises Adult Discipleship, Congregational Counseling, Evangelism, Lutheran Schools, Special Ministries, Worship, and Youth and Family Ministry.

Congregational Counseling

The Congregational Counseling Commission was established by the Conference of Presidents to provide short-term assessment and advice to congregations seeking to identify ways to improve their ministry.

This commission assists congregations to seize opportunities the Lord provides to evangelize lost souls by developing and promoting evangelism resources and by promoting evangelism attitudes, structures, and programs consistent with Christian doctrine.

Missions conducts gospel outreach in the United States, Canada, and 23 foreign countries through seed sowing and evangelism efforts, congregation and church planting, training ethnic and national workers for ministry, and providing religious materials in foreign languages.

The WELS Constitution charters the Commission on Inter-Church Relations (CICR) to “serve under the Conference of Presidents by representing the synod in doctrinal discussions with other church bodies who are, or are not, in fellowship with the synod in order to ‘extend and conserve the true doctrine and practice of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.’ ”

To carry out our calling, the CICR meets regularly with representatives from various sister churches in the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference for information sharing and mutual encouragement. The CICR also assists individuals and churches that are seeking to take confessional Lutheran stances.

The CICR maintains a Lutheran churches periodical reading list and visits several conventions to stay abreast of happenings in the Lutheran world.

Lutheran Schools

This commission guides and assists congregations in advancing the gospel of Jesus by providing resources, training, and personal assistance for starting and strengthening WELS schools.

This committee provides spiritual services to WELS members and others who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. The committee carries out its mission through a ministry-by-mail program, a full-time civilian chaplain in Europe, and a national civilian chaplain and liaison to the military.

WELS Ministerial Education works to provide workers for the more than 1,200 churches and 750 schools in the synod. WELS provides this education through a system of four schools: two high-school-level preparatory schools, a college, and a seminary.

WELS Multi-Language Publications assists in the production of confessional Christian literature and other mass-media in the languages of countries where WELS is working and in other areas or language groups where the synod does not have an official presence.

Missions conducts gospel outreach in the United States, Canada, and 23 foreign countries through seed sowing and evangelism efforts, congregation and church planting, training ethnic and national workers for ministry, and providing religious materials in foreign languages.

The commission assists congregations by encouraging worship that glorifies God and proclaims Christ’s love. It provides the following resources and training: a national worship conference, preaching resources, various publications like the Christian Worship hymnal, and worship enrichment workshops.

Synod Administration

Communication Services

This group is responsible for clear and consistent communication of the synod’s mission to its members and nonmembers who are interested in learning more about WELS through vehicles like Forward in Christ magazine, WELS Connection videos, Together e-news, and this website.

Conference of Presidents

The Conference of Presidents, one of the two primary leadership groups in WELS, is responsible for encouraging and equipping WELS to carry out its mission of sharing Christ’s love with the world.

Financial Services

Financial Services prepares and provides accounting and financial information and services that support and serve WELS ministries. This is done by providing timely, accurate, and complete financial statements, reports, and analyses; providing effective and efficient financial services and operations.

Human Resources

Human Resources oversees the personnel functions for the WELS national office in Milwaukee. It also assists synod leaders, ministerial education schools, and congregations in addressing called worker care issues such as compensation, tax information, and relocation counseling.

Joint Mission Council

The Joint Mission Council oversees the mission opportunities that are the operational responsibilities of both the Board for World Missions and the Board for Home Missions.

Synodical Council

This group is responsible for managing the activities of the synod that are determined by the synod in convention. These responsibilities include overseeing and evaluating all programs of ministry carried out by the synod and coordinating the execution of decisions made by the synod in convention.

Technology

The Technology office seeks to share Christ’s love by helping others make the best use of technology tools today. Technology provides a strong technical infrastructure; security and quality management for synodical data and information; tools and structure for the WELS website.

WELS Archives

The archives are the official repository for records of historical value created by and about WELS, its congregations and called workers, and related parasynodical organizations and institutions. Its mission is to offer a useful information service to WELS called workers and congregations.